Chain of Command pick-up game: Brits vs German infantry

Last week I witnessed the sad destruction of some Panzer Grenadiere caught in a ditch of death. This week the campaign was not on so I asked for a pick-up game so I can concentrate on learning the rules. There were three of us. I also got to use my own Germans. My miniatures don't see a huge amount of use (e.g. none basically) so it was really cool seeing them on the table. 

Let's be real: I got my butt kicked. I am pretty sure I made a few tactical errors from the offset, but by the end of the night I was just trying things out to try and get to grips with the rules.

Now I am well aware that Chain of Command 2.0 is being released in "Spring 2025" and find it ironic that I waited until now to finally take the plunge. I recall it being 2013 as I was slowly getting back into miniature painting and wargaming (even though I didn't actually play a wargame for a long time) and I heard about Chain of Command. I was shopping around for a rule set to get into. Battlegroup, Bolt Action, Chain of Command. I also had Crossfire from ages ago, and still haven't played those rules. I eventually settled on Bolt Action and played a couple of games of it but decided it was too gamey. Then I went for Battlegroup and bought the rules, then did not play them for six years as I committed to 6mm Sci Fi. Chain of Command I rejected because it was 28mm, 6x4 table, and had less emphasis on vehicles. 

Discovering a local wargames club really helped, and having sat through some games I am convinced that these rules are pretty fun. The guys here also try not to play it in a too gamey way - so while leaders technically have a leadership radius, if you can't see a squad, you can't command them according to the guys here.

One aspect of the game that is different/interesting/infuriating is the Patrol Move phase. Games can be lost in this part. We both managed to get three half decent jump off points. Working out where these go has convinced me to buy one of those Army Painter laser pointers that lays down a red straight line along the board, showing line of sight. 

We sort of made up a scenario where the objective was to get one unit off the enemy side of the table. Alex concentrated on flooding the village and was going to storm through the woods to get to the edge. I was going to flank around the village with two squads and try to gun it across the fields. 

This is the squad I was using to lead the charge around the village. They performed well at first. I actualyl managed to roll 3 double phases in a row which was cool, but led to my downfall.

I lined a squad up in the woods, far enough in to not be visable but they also couldn't shoot out of them. I was just going to camp them there. I should have probably put them at the edge of the woods to fire out or maybe should have tried to advance to the village. 

The brits spent most of the time laying down smoke over my squad in the woods. I had them on overwatch for most of the game.

I loaded my final squad into the Hanomag and ran it up the road and across the field to try and support my other squad. But I also used my three double phases in a row to charge my squad up to try and take over the enemy drop point. I took no pictures of it but they didn't move enough and ended up JUST short of the drop point, leaving them exposed in the open while Alex deployed a squad behind the hedge. I had a CoC point so used it to interrupt him firing on me by charging into close combat and prompty had my entire squad wiped out. The game was over at that point basically. 

Soon after his PIAT team caused my Hanomag to have 2 shock, my senior leader was wounded and Alex then charged into the woods with two squads. I did a lot of damage to his squads and caused them to retreat, but my entire right flank was very vulnerable and Alex was about to run his Universal Carrier up the road and off the table for the win. 

I learnt a lot about the rules with this play through. I enjoyed it immensely. I actually liked not having tanks on the table. I am pretty happy with the idea that I actually have quite a lot of what I actually need to play this game. I will wait until the new version comes out and try to get a bundle with Chain of Command dice and the tactical/overwatch markers, maybe even shock trackers. 

The buildings are all scratch built by Andy. I cannot even begin to say how cool they are. He inspired me to look into how to make my own.